Jyväskylä (Finland) (AFP)
The 14th special stage of the Rally Finland held Saturday morning saw two dramatic events with the abandonment of Kris Meeke (Toyota), then 3rd, and the puncture of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who was leading the race.
Suddenly, it was Ött Tänak, also on Toyota, who took the lead while there was still a stage to run before the assistance of the mid-day.
Meeke's car was shown by the helicopter from the stopped race with its left rear wheel ripped off. As for Latvala, he arrived at the end of the stage with the left rear wing jagged by a puncture.
"We are very disappointed," said Tommi Mäkinen, the boss of the Toyota team. He said both Meeke and Latvala had hit a rock, causing one to break and the other to have a puncture.
"There was still a long way to go and they both had a good pace, they could really control things, they had orders before the rally to do their best to go far and be careful. when you put the helmet on your head ... ", he said very disappointed.
It was Ött Tänak who set the fastest time of the 14th stage ahead of Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai).
In the general classification, Tänak is now in the lead with 13.9 seconds on Latvala and 14.4 seconds on Lappi.
© 2019 AFP